RHEL default accounts
 

I have just inherited a server running a basic installation of RHEL. Is there a default password for root? (I am just starting to dig through documentation, but I am also a little impatient...)

If you want then you can reset the root password as long as your infront of the actual machine. this link would give you a better idea of how to do it.

http://www.go2linux.org/fedora-cento...sword-recovery

Hope this helps.

- A.

That wouldn't be a very good idea now would it?? No, there's no default password, and if you've *inherited* on, if anything like that was left as default on the last guys watch he deserves shooting.

http://www.linuxquestions.org/questi...loader-410226/

Thanks for the feedback --

1) No, a default password for root wouldn't be a good idea, I was just hoping.

2) But I do have access to the box itself, and I own it now, so I will follow the article and reset it.

well you could just boot up with knoppix, mount the drive, then blank out the password in /etc/shadow. Or I think you can get a full blown login by booting into single user mode. If that is the case then just run

seanlanter

Unless there is something that you absolutely need off that drive, just do a fresh install. There is no real way to determine what the previous owner set up on the machine. He may have altered things to allow him access to the machine any time it has access to the net. He may also have cluster Fracked up things that are easy to deal with, if you know that they were done, but can cause untold PITA if you do not know specifically what was done. If you do a fresh install you know exactly what you are dealing with and how secure you are.

how is that a just, compared to just booting to single user mode?

may be a "nice to have" but it's hardly likely that a server in a commercial environment would ever just get rebuilt on a whim.

Its not. I just wanted to give more than one option.

acid_kewpie

If this is in a decent commercial environment they would have the passwords stored somewhere(sysadmin gets hit by a train etc). Since the passwords are not stored somewhere, it brings into question security concerns. These days security is more than a "whim" for most companies.

hmm, no I wouldn't say so. To me this sounds like an internal server, not online in anyway. It's a smallish company without a suitably detailed / inforced IT security policy. I wouldn't say a threat or risk comes from an unknown password in this instance. I've been there, and it's just a bit lazy / amateur. Nothing worse than that. Of course, that's my assumption only...

Thanks, everyone, for the inputs. This, indeed, turned out to be an internal server, dedicated to hosting a specific test tool in an isolated test lab. And in some sense, what I inherited was actually a corporate reorganization: in the process of getting the OK to re-install RHEL, we bumped into someone who knew someone who knew who to ask for the password (not quite 6 degrees of separation, but getting close!). So today we are up and running, the password is safely stored elsewhere, and I have garnered a lot of helpful information in case I really do run into the situation we thought we had to begin with. Thanks again, this forum is terrific!